Office 2016 Releases

Office 2016 is released on 22nd September 2015 and hits the volume licensing pricelist on the 1st October. What’s new? Some will be disappointed it’s not radically different from Office 2013. Others will breathe a sigh of relief and appreciate the consistency between the versions whilst having a good level of improvement over Office 2013 which was a fantastic suite of applications. We’ll be running a series of hints and tips blog posts over the next month detailing the main changes.

For now, if you’re a Microsoft partner you can visit the Microsoft Drumbeat site, packed full of sales training events and resources to help you start, grow and accelerate your Office 365 practice (registration required).

If you love videos of Americans waving their hands around too much and generally being very excited with words like ‘super’ and ‘cool’ then take a look at the 400 second-long Vimeo video.

FAQ

Q – Is this going to be an automatic upgrade from 2013 to 2016 if I’m on Office 365?

A – No. If you want to deploy Office 2016 you’ll need to do that using your usual deployment processes, e.g. via the Office 365 portal. There will be automatic upgrades in the future but there aren’t any full details on that yet, for example how to accept or prevent the automatic upgrade to 2016.

Q – Will Office 2016 still be available as a perpetual, on-premises product?

A – Yes, Office 2016 is available on-premises and through Office 365 subscriptions. Unless you have Software Assurance on Office 2013 on-premises, you’ll need to buy the licence to Office 2016 as it’s a completely new version. Office 365 includes new version rights so if you’re on an Office 365 which includes the Office apps (e.g. E3, E4, Business, Business Premium, ProPlus) you have the rights to 2016 immediately.

Q – I’m on Office 365; how long can I stay on the 2013 release?

A – For 12 months after the release of Office 2016.

Q – InfoPath is no longer included in the 2016 release, where can I get this?

A – InfoPath 2013 is the last version and can be downloaded from Microsoft’s download centre. Your Office 365 ProPlus licence allows use of InfoPath 2013 and it will still be supported